Assessment Of The Chemical Quality Of Sachet Water Sources In Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

ABSTRACT Background: The inhabitants of Accra rely largely on sachet water since most consumers perceive packaged drinking water as a safer alternative to other water sources. Despite this however, the chemical qualities of these sachet water sources remain largely unstudied. Objectives: Assessment of the packaging characteristics of sachet water across different vending points, the contamination hazards in production sites, reasons for selecting different water sources and the chemical quality of sachet water sources in producing facilities in Accra Metropolitan Assembly. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design of some enumeration areas in the AMA were selected and studied based on the national deprivation index generated from the 2010 Population Census data. These selected areas have been designated as deprived and nondeprived areas. Sachet water producers were identified from product labels on sachet brands and phoned for appointment and were traced for their consents to participate in the study and thereafter, structured questionnaires were administered to the managers to answer the objectives of the study. Afterwards, contamination hazards around the production sites were observed and chemical quality of sachet water sources were analysed for Pb, As, Cr, Cd, Mn, Cu and Fe in the laboratory after samples were collected from production sites. Results: Above 60% of the brands had GSA kite or FDA registration printed on them, 14% had quality parameters printed on them, 30% and 12.2% respectively had available sell-by date and treatment methods printed on them. With regards to potential contamination hazards in the production sites, 1.7% had cracks in their floors, 4.4% were without water proof floors, 3.3% had signs of scattered waste noticed in and around their packaging area whiles 5% were not wearing their head covers. Only 3.3% had external hazards around them. Producers cited the following reasons for influencing their choice of water sources; 44% for uninterrupted xiii water supply, 31% for affordability, and 25% for availability. Again, a majority above (70%) of the sachet water producing companies used standardized treatment techniques. Importantly, significant associations were observed between facilities having hand-washing station as compared with the chemical quality of water sources (X2=9 p˂0.05) and facilities having waste scattered in their packaging area compared with the chemical quality of sachet water sources were also seen to be significant (X2=6.4 p˂0.05). In addition, other selected factors showed no significant association with chemical quality of water sources using a logistic regression. Conclusion: The facilities with hand-washing facilities had a positive impact on the chemical quality of sachet water and those with scattered waste in and around their production sites, had a negative impact on the chemical quality of the water sources. The study showed that most producers used standardized treatment techniques in their water treatmen